The Story so far...
Titus Livy already talked of a “Portus Liquentiae”, meaning a port on river Livenza, which would have probably been situated in the whereabouts of Torre di Mosto and survived till V century A.D.
Many the quotations about the Livenza and its surrounding fertile territories: because of its regular water regime, the Livenza was always quite crowded and amply sailed and, for obvious geographic reasons, signed the boundaries between Gallic tribes (east) and Venetians (west). The most important cities at that time were Opitergium (now Oderzo) and Iula Concordia (now Concordia Sagittaria, right on crossroads between Via Annia and Via Postumia, this an important archaeological site.
It’s only in 1600 that the first cooperatives for the water regulation of Livenza river started to appear: drains were built and reclamation works were implemented. But this fight against nature’s forces could see some winning only by the end of 1800, when, thanks to the engine’s introduction, people had more proper tools to reclaim the territory. Lower Lemene, Caorle, San Stino di Livenza, began to get some form.
So “Prese” were born, whose name refers to the land’s removal from water. The first water-scooping systems were built, financed by some landowners. San Gaetano’s area, which Ca’ Alleata belongs to, was of the Franchetti’s family. After baron Raimondo Franchetti’s death, his widow, baroness Luigia de Rotschild, brought the reclamation works to prese 7 to 9 and, in early 1900, backed up the local farmstead’s masonry: Ca’ Alleata was so raised.
After some time private cooperatives came up, as well as collaborations within landowners, aimed at the quagmires’ reclamation. The Great World war would have then bombed all the dams and water-scoops, to bring reclamation works back to step one.
Within the two wars the Franchetti’s invested a lot on San Gaetano and tried to make it a sort of “farming & fishing” enclave. Baron Raimondo Fianchetti loved staying in these places and hosted some original characters such as Hemingway, who paid homage to San Gaetano in his “Over the river and into the trees”.
During the Second World War the land between Livenza and Tagliamento river saw many bloody battles, but with the final treaty and the birth of the Italian Republic, reclamation works could finally come to an end (1950’s).
Roman bridge nearby
Concordia Sagittaria
Ottava Presa (right below)
e the swamps in San Stino area
at the end of 1800s
Farmhouses
in San Gaetano
